Thursday, September 27, 2012

The old west was a very tough time to be alive. Everyone was either a banker, rancher,hero or an outlaw. h[a]orses were used for lots of things at the time and there was little to no technology . It is so hard to put a timeline on the west because people moved around alot. Outlaws like Buffalo Bill Cody, Billy the Kid and Jesse James lived in this time period. Charles Goodnight was a rancher and a cattle breeder and he helped settle the Texas Range.

They were attracted to gold and silver. That brought treasure hunters and prospectors to the mountains. They would dig out this gold with picks and shovels, but the silver mining companies needed heavy machinery to get the silver out. The last gold rush took place in the Black Hills in 1875.

Travel was slow and the trails were very bad. Most people traveled by stagecoach. They would have to defend themselves against Indians and bandits. railroads helped tame the west.The rail system helped by bringing in newcomers and making the population grow.Some people didn’t agree with the railroad because many people thought that change was only good when it made things better. It brought in people with disease and criminals.

Then came law and government. It straightened the west.There was crime like train robbery and bank robbery. Next automobiles came around and that made a big change. Now they had three choices of transportation they could now ride horseback or by train or they could drive. Only the rich could afford them.

The number of outlaws started to decline even though they still had some. Boats and ferries then came. Electricity then came bringing in lights, silent movie camera and other luxuries came to be.The old west was changing and new technology filled world.Soon came paved roads and the Printing press.

They had newspapers and books. Then the telegraph and people could now talk to far away.Then the telephone came. Communication was never easier.The west was forever tamed.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I would like to explain how my start of school is going. I like charter a lot and surprisingly I actually look forward to part of school. This would be charter. Charter includes social studies, gym, science, and last on the schedule is English. I am going to explain about these classes and why I actually like them. First of all, I am going to explain why I like social studies. Social studies is fun because I actually am curious about history, and people like the Native Americans. Right now we are learning about the Native Americans before Columbus arrived to America. We have learned about the different regions that the Indians (Native Americans) lived in, and what kinds of shelter they used and how they hunted, gathered, and fished. We watched a National Geographic video about the Native Americans. It was cool to see how they hunted and how the land looked that they lived on. It is a surprise that I enjoy social studies, since last year it was my least favorite class. But then again, I was in grade school back then. Second, I would like to explain why I like gym. I think almost everyone likes gym. How could you not like playing a sport every day except for fitness day? I like gym because it is fun and I am getting exercise at the same time. We get to play lots of different sports like cross country skiing, inline skating, and of course the main sports like football, basketball, etc. Even though we have to run and do pushups and situps, we still get to play sports. And is getting exercise every day really that bad? Next, I would like to explain why I enjoy science. Science is very fun because we get to do lots of hands on learning about plants and seeds. We even already got to plant different types of plants. We also went to the Wallenfang’s property and looked for different plants and later on identified them. It was very fun identifying them because we got to use a book and research them on the internet. We also have learned about birds and at the moment are learning about different cell cycles. It is a lot of fun. Last, I would like to explain why I enjoy english class. English is very fun because we get to interact with our classmates on the internet in a creative way. On Ms. Chetto’s web page she posts a discussion question everyday that we have to respond our opinion to. She puts some pretty challenging questions on it that I have troubles answering. While they are challenging, they are still great fun. I like to read other’s opinions and see what they think. We also write a one page blog twice or sometimes once a month. I, for the first time, enjoy part of school. This is charter. Charter is fun because of the teachers of course, and all the hands on learning and studying. In charter we do four fun classes that include social studies, gym, science, and english. I also like the fact that we get to use ipads and the internet to research which at times can be better than books. Now i’m not saying that books are not good for studying and researching, but sometimes the internet can be better. Charter is what I think the most fun part of the day.